The Colorado State University Plant Diagnostic Clinic blog serves as an information resource on disease and insect problems or questions that we see in the clinic or get asked frequently.

Monday, September 10, 2012

U.S. EPA Pesticide Program Update

September 10, 2012

In This Update:

Scotts Miracle-Gro Will Pay $12.5 Million in
Criminal Fines and Civil Penalties for Violations of Federal Pesticide Laws

WASHINGTON – The
Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, a producer of pesticides for commercial and
consumer lawn and garden uses, was sentenced today in federal district court in
Columbus, Ohio, to pay a $4 million fine and perform community service for
eleven criminal violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which governs the manufacture, distribution, and sale
of pesticides. Scotts pleaded guilty in February 2012 to illegally applying
insecticides to its wild bird food products that are toxic to birds, falsifying
pesticide registration documents, distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved
labels, and distributing unregistered pesticides. This is the largest criminal
penalty under FIFRA to date.

In a separate civil
agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scotts agreed to
pay more than $6 million in penalties and spend $2 million on environmental
projects to resolves additional civil pesticide violations. The violations
include distributing or selling unregistered, canceled, or misbranded
pesticides, including products with inadequate warnings or cautions. This is
the largest civil settlement under FIFRA to date.

“The misuse or
mislabeling of pesticide products can cause serious illness in humans and be
toxic to wildlife,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s sentence and
unprecedented civil settlement hold Scotts accountable for widespread company
noncompliance with pesticide laws, which put products into the hands of
consumers without the proper authorization or warning labels.”

“As the world’s
largest marketer of residential use pesticides, Scotts has a special obligation
to make certain that it observes the laws governing the sale and use of its
products. For having failed to do so, Scotts has been sentenced to pay the
largest fine in the history of FIFRA enforcement," said Ignacia S. Moreno,
assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division
of the Department of Justice. “The Department of Justice will continue to work
with EPA to assure that pesticides applied in homes and on lawns and food are
sold and used in compliance with the laws intended to assure their safety.”

In the plea agreement,
Scotts admitted that it applied the pesticides Actellic 5E and Storcide II to
its bird food products even though EPA had prohibited this use. Scotts had done
so to protect its bird foods from insect infestation during storage. Scotts
admitted that it used these pesticides contrary to EPA directives and in spite
of the warning label appearing on all Storicide II containers stating,
“Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife.”
Scotts sold this illegally treated bird food for two years after it began
marketing its bird food line and for six months after employees specifically
warned Scotts management of the dangers of these pesticides. By the time it
voluntarily recalled these products in March 2008, Scotts had sold more than 70
million units of bird food illegally treated with pesticide that is toxic to
birds.

Scotts also pleaded
guilty to submitting false documents to EPA and to state regulatory agencies in
an effort to deceive them into believing that numerous pesticides were
registered with EPA when in fact they were not. The company also pleaded guilty
to having illegally sold the unregistered pesticides and to marketing
pesticides bearing labels containing false and misleading claims not approved
by EPA. The falsified documents submitted to EPA and states were attributed to
a federal product manager at Scotts.

In addition to the $4
million criminal fine, Scotts will contribute $500,000 to organizations that
protect bird habitat, including $100,000 each to the Ohio Audubon’s Important
Bird Area Program, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Urban Forestry
Program, the Columbus Metro-Parks Bird Habitat Enhancement Program, the Cornell
University Ornithology Laboratory, and The Nature Conservancy of Ohio to
support the protection of bird populations and habitats through conservation,
research, and education.

At the time the
criminal violations were discovered, EPA also began a civil investigation that
uncovered numerous civil violations spanning five years. Scotts’ FIFRA civil
violations included the nationwide distribution or sale of unregistered,
canceled, or misbranded pesticides, including products with inadequate warnings
or cautions. As a result, EPA issued more than 40 Stop Sale, Use or Removal
Orders to Scotts to address more than 100 pesticide products.

In addition to the $6
million civil penalty, Scotts will complete environmental projects, valued at
$2 million, to acquire, restore and protect 300 acres of land to prevent runoff
of agricultural chemicals into nearby waterways.

The criminal case was
investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Environmental
Enforcement Unit of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, Bureau of Criminal
Identification & Investigation. It was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney
Jeremy F. Korzenik of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section of
the Environment and Natural Resources Division, by Michael J. McClary, EPA
Criminal Enforcement Counsel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and by
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Marous.

The civil case was
investigated by U.S. EPA Region 5’s Land and Chemicals Division and Office of
Regional Counsel, and the U.S. EPA Headquarters Office of Civil Enforcement,
assisted by the Office of Pesticides Program.